Anton Chekhov

Author profile

born

January 29, 1860 in Taganrog, Russian Federation

died

July 15, 1904

gender

male

genre

Theater, Short Stories

influences

Ivan Turgenev, Nikolai Gogol, Henrik Ibsen, Leo Tolstoy, Honoré de Bal ...more

About this author

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Антон Павлович Чехов

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, southern Russia, the son of a grocer. Chekhov's grandfather was a serf, who had bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught himself to read and write.Yevgenia Morozov, Chekhov's mother, was the daughter of a cloth merchant.

"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." His early years were shadowed by his father's tyranny, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, which was open from five in the morning till midnight. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog (1867-68) and Taganrog grammar school (1868-79). The family was forced to move to Moskow following his father'...more Антон Павлович Чехов

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was born in the small seaport of Taganrog, southern Russia, the son of a grocer. Chekhov's grandfather was a serf, who had bought his own freedom and that of his three sons in 1841. He also taught himself to read and write.Yevgenia Morozov, Chekhov's mother, was the daughter of a cloth merchant.

"When I think back on my childhood," Chekhov recalled, "it all seems quite gloomy to me." His early years were shadowed by his father's tyranny, religious fanaticism, and long nights in the store, which was open from five in the morning till midnight. He attended a school for Greek boys in Taganrog (1867-68) and Taganrog grammar school (1868-79). The family was forced to move to Moskow following his father's bankruptcy. At the age of 16, Chekhov became independent and remained for some time alone in his native town, supporting himself through private tutoring.

In 1879 Chekhov entered the Moskow University Medical School. While in the school, he began to publish hundreds of comic short stories to support himself and his mother, sisters and brothers. His publisher at this period was Nicholas Leikin, owner of the St. Petersburg journal Oskolki (splinters). His subjects were silly social situations, marital problems, farcical encounters between husbands, wives, mistresses, and lovers, whims of young women, of whom Chekhov had not much knowledge – the author was was shy with women even after his marriage. His works appeared in St. Petersburg daily papers, Peterburskaia gazeta from 1885, and Novoe vremia from 1886.

Chekhov's first novel, Nenunzhaya pobeda (1882), set in Hungary, parodied the novels of the popular Hungarian writer Mór Jókai. As a politician Jókai was also mocked for his ideological optimism. By 1886 Chekhov had gained a wide fame as a writer. His second full-length novel, The Shooting Party, was translated into English in 1926. Agatha Christie used its characters and atmosphere in her mystery novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926).

Chekhov graduated in 1884, and practiced medicine until 1892. In 1886 Chekhov met H.S. Suvorin, who invited him to become a regular contributor for the St. Petersburg daily Novoe vremya. His friendship with Suvorin ended in 1898 because of his objections to the anti-Dreyfus campaingn conducted by paper. But during these years Chechov developed his concept of the dispassionate, non-judgemental author. He outlined his program in a letter to his brother Aleksandr: "1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature; 2. total objectivity; 3. truthful descriptions of persons and objects; 4. extreme brevity; 5. audacity and originality; flee the stereotype; 6. compassion."

Chekhov's fist book of stories (1886) was a success, and gradually he became a full-time writer. The author's refusal to join the ranks of social critics arose the wrath of liberal and radical intellitentsia and he was criticized for dealing with serious social and moral questions, but avoiding giving answers. However, he was defended by such leading writers as Leo Tolstoy and Nikolai Leskov. "I'm not a liberal, or a conservative, or a gradualist, or a monk, or an indifferentist. I should like to be a free artist and that's all..." Chekhov said in 1888.

The failure of his play The Wood Demon (1889) and problems with his novel made Chekhov to withdraw from literature for a period. In 1890 he travelled across Siberia to remote prison island, Sakhalin. There he conducted a detailed census of some 10,000 convicts and settlers condemned to live their lives on that harsh island. Chekhov hoped to use the results of his research for his doctoral dissertation. It is probable that hard conditions on the island also worsened his own physical condition. From this journey was born his famous travel book The Island: A Journey to Sakhalin (1893-94). Chekhov returned to Russia via Singa(less)

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Books by Anton Chekhov

Average rating: 3.97 · 37,064 ratings · 1,854 reviews · 730 distinct works

	Selected Stories of Anton Chekhov by Anton Chekhov, Larissa Volokhonsky (Translation), Richard Pevear (Introduction, Translation) 4.34 avg rating — 5,259 ratings — published 1903 — 5 editions	My rating:
	The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, Tom Murphy (Translator) 3.61 avg rating — 6,304 ratings — published 1904 — 95 editions	My rating:
	The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, Michael Frayn (Translator) 3.88 avg rating — 4,367 ratings — published 1895 — 86 editions	My rating:
	The Three Sisters 3.74 avg rating — 3,304 ratings — published 1900 — 70 editions	My rating:
	Uncle Vanya 3.81 avg rating — 2,814 ratings — published 1897 — 77 editions	My rating:
	The Complete Short Novels by Anton Chekhov, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator) 4.46 avg rating — 1,210 ratings — published 1993 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Five Plays: Ivanov / The Seagull / Uncle Vanya / The Three Sisters / The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, Ronald Hingley (Translator) 4.12 avg rating — 1,371 ratings — published 1904 — 42 editions	My rating:
	Ward No. 6 and Other Stories (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) by Anton Chekhov, David Plante (Editor), Constance Garnett (Translator) 4.32 avg rating — 967 ratings — published 1892 — 9 editions	My rating:
	The Lady With the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904 by Anton Chekhov, Ronald Wilks (Translator), Paul Debreczney (Introduction) 4.15 avg rating — 931 ratings — published 1899 — 16 editions	My rating:
	Anton Chekhov's Short Stories (Norton Critical Edition) by Anton Chekhov, Ralph E. Matlaw (Editor) 4.34 avg rating — 699 ratings — 3 editions	My rating:

More books by Anton Chekhov…

Quotes by Anton Chekhov

“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
― Anton Chekhov

tags: broken-glass , glass , moon , moonshine , show-don-t-tell , writing

1,657 people liked it

“Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out.”
― Anton Chekhov

tags: living

252 people liked it

“You have lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth, and hideousness for beauty. You would marvel if, owing to strange events of some sorts, frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple and orange trees instead of fruit, or if roses began to smell like a sweating horse; so I marvel at you who exchange heaven for earth. I don't want to understand you.”
― Anton Chekhov

tags: beauty , earth , heaven , life , reason , truth , understand , wisdom

123 people liked it

See all Anton Chekhov's quotes »

Polls

What play would you like to read in September?

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov

9 votes, 42.9%

A Month in the Country by Ivan Turgenev

5 votes, 23.8%

The Inspector-General by Nikolai Gogol

3 votes, 14.3%

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

3 votes, 14.3%

The Living Corpse by Leo Tolstoy

1 vote, 4.8%

21 total votes

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